Depending on who you ask this is either complete nonsense or very cool. There don't seem to be many inbetweens...

This non-fiction piece details the development of Project Orion, a space ship being designed in the late 50's and early 60's that was to be propelled by small nuclear explosions. This was the first project taken on by General Atomic and was initially funded by the Department of Defense as a possible alternative to what was still a very young NASA.

From an engineering point of view, this book is an excellent example of why it's bad to spend a lot of time thinking about a problem without brining in the guys who are going to figure out how to do the actual implementation. A good deal of money was spent on nuclear physicists that while very capable scientists who understood the mechanics of making a nuclear bomb, they were not remotely close to sufficient engineering heads to build a space craft. Given that we don't have a project Orion today, you can imagine how successful the project became... The details of how it got there are left to someone who actually reads the book.

All said and done, an amusing read. The physicists that I've known who have read this question whether this book is really fiction. I personally find it an amusing story that is believable for its time.